Whipped Orange Nutmeg Butter

I apologize for the lack of post lately! I have been immersed in the holidays, as well as tending to our litter of puppies born October 12.... all 15 of them!
I hope my photography skills will begin to improve as well! I received a DSLR camera from my husband as a Christmas present! I am looking forward to higher quality photos to put on my blog!

For dinner tonight, I decided to roast some sweet potatoes. I simply make a couple of small slits in the sweet potatoes, then place them in a 350 degree oven until they are tender. I usually put a piece of foil underneath them while they roast, since they will caramelize and "ooze" a bit of goodness onto the bottom of your oven.

To make the whipped butter, I decided to try something my sister had told me - whipping butter with coconut oil. But, as is my nature, I couldn't make plain butter! Here is the recipe...

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup coconut oil (I didn't use extra virgin)
Pinch of salt (I used Himalayan pink salt, ground to a powder in a mortar and pestle)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest (I used satsuma zest)
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Place butter in a bowl, and beat for a second to smooth the texture out. Add the coconut oil, and whip together until fluffy looking.  Season to taste with salt. You can stop here and have just a plain whipped butter. Simply stir in the flavors (zest and nutmeg) and scoop into a serving dish. Chill until service time. For softer butter, simply remove from the fridge about an hour before service.

Coconut oil is a very healthy oil and by mixing it with the butter, it still retained the buttery flavor and creamy texture. The salt is optional, but I felt that it made it taste like true butter. As with most compound or flavored butters, you can change up the flavor combinations.  Different citrus zests, herbs, spices - endless possibilities!

Whipped Orange Nutmeg Butter

Bacon Blue Green Beans

Canning season is in full swing! I have been very busy, but wanted to post a recipe to share. As with every crop that you preserve, there always seems to be that last little bit left over that doesn’t quite fill a jar. Tonight, it was green beans! I decided to combine two of my favorite flavors that work so well together: Bacon and blue cheese.

For this recipe, you can use either small, tender green beans, or larger ones cut “French-style”, which basically means cutting them length-wise. You can use a bean Frencher, or just cut them by hand. Here is the recipe for Bacon Blue Green Beans.

First, chop up one thick slice of bacon into small pieces. You can do two it you want, but I didn’t want to obliterate all the healthiness of green beans… Add bacon to a hot pan, ad a few cracks of freshly ground black pepper, and sauté until mostly cooked. Depending how much fat is rendered, you may need to use a couple teaspoons of olive oil; I used 1 scant tablespoon of olive oil. Add 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced, and cook for about 20 seconds. Add 4 cups of green beans. Cook and stir until green beans are bright green and tender. Remove from heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of crumbled blue cheese. I used gorgonzola. Serve warm. Makes 4-6 servings.

Sauteing the bacon, pepper, and olive oil

The combination of blue cheese and bacon is very common, probably because they are both so salty and dominant. I hope you try this colorful side dish the next time you are wondering what to do with those green beans!

Bacon Blue Green Beans